Come Over to My Place
The situation seemed like it could have been inconvenient enough. [Gasp! Suhyun! What if you can't make it? Ah, I'm really sorry~ I should've told you in advance...] Seoeun's voice lingered in Suhyun's ears. It might have been a troublesome spot for an outgoing guy who worked part-time on weekends or already had plans. But the person in question was Suhyun. For him, there was surprisingly nothing that could be inconvenient. And that fact stung his heart just a little.
It meant he was the kind of person you could call out anytime without it mattering. That. The fact that it wasn't exactly wrong made him even sadder.
He let out a long sigh and lay on his bed, fiddling with his phone. The integrated group chat for first- and second-years had so many messages that he'd turned off notifications. The freshmen had only known each other for a short time, yet they were already hanging out in huge groups.
Suhyun only lurked and didn't react at all. After all, a cool senior who kept his distance wouldn't show up to something like that. It wasn't that he disliked or hated the underclassmen, but those kinds of gatherings still felt burdensome to him.
He sighed again. If even a casual drinking session like this was hard, how was he supposed to handle the MT... He thought about searching for MT on a portal site, but the memory of suggesting games at his first drinking party hit him like he was strapped to an electric chair, making him flinch hard. The internet really couldn't be trusted.
He considered asking Seoeun for advice, but he was scared that asking something like that would start rumors. So instead, he decided to message Juyeon, who was probably in a similar situation to him and definitely had MT experience. A loner understands a loner's circumstances best. His thumb, heavy with hesitation, moved slowly across the keyboard.
[Hey.]
Hmm... That sounded like he was stopping a random passerby on the street.
[What are you up to?]
Was that something only really close friends would say?
[Juyeon.]
In the end, after going in circles, Suhyun decided to just use her name and hit send. He'd told himself to close his eyes tight and not worry until a reply came, but the yellow line that disappeared the moment he sent the message was enough to make him anxious.
The reply... wasn't coming...
It felt like a huge rock had slammed down on his head. He didn't think there had been any major incident between them, but Suhyun slowly went over everything that had happened with Juyeon so far. He wondered if their relationship had gone sour, and if there was one thing that might be bothering her... it had to be that time when Seoeun noona grabbed her chest. Was she still conscious of that? No way? But it wasn't even me who touched her, so why go that far?
Since he'd already sent it, he couldn't delete it. With nowhere to run, all he could do was wait.
A short and simple answer. Still, Suhyun felt better that she hadn't ignored him, and his thumb moved again.
[What was last year's MT like?]
[MT?]
[Oh. I heard we're going this weekend, so I was wondering what the vibe was like last year.]
Juyeon, who had been gripping her phone tightly with her small hands, found Suhyun's contact strange. If he was going to ask about the MT, wasn't he knocking on the completely wrong door? Something like this seemed like it would be much better handled by Seoeun unnie or Hana...
[It was fun.]
It really had been fun. Of course, Juyeon wasn't without her own dark history. Just thinking about that time still made her... The memories of her embarrassing behavior suddenly flooded back, and Juyeon kicked her blanket furiously with her feet.
[Um... Is there anything I should prepare or anything I shouldn't do?]
Suhyun's attitude somehow resembled her own from last year. Seeing that, Juyeon's heart softened a little, and she thought she might help him just a tiny bit.
[...Don't bring board games.]
[Board games?]
Juyeon's replies stopped coming after that. Did something urgent come up that she couldn't answer? The yellow bar didn't disappear anymore. But why would she say not to bring board games to an MT in the first place? Were there even people who brought those? Suhyun didn't realize that Juyeon's words were advice born from experience.
It was the second week since his precious free period had been taken away for lessons. Hana was diligently reviewing the guitar techniques she was going to teach Suhyun today.
“Should I use this example... and this one...?”
Honestly, she had a vague feeling that no matter what she brought, he'd pick it up right away. Just looking at how cleanly he handled the backing during their standing luxury jam session, Suhyun looked like some kind of guitar superhuman. How could he nail the backing so perfectly in one go? It felt so similar to the dozens of songs she'd practiced herself that it almost made Hana feel deprived.
Of course, it wasn't wrong to say he had talent, but Hana had no idea about Suhyun's practice volume. Even a swan that glides gracefully is actually paddling desperately with its feet underwater. Alone in his one-room apartment, Suhyun was a practice robot that never stopped. It would be more accurate to call him a genius of effort rather than a guitar genius.
Since she didn't want to teach him half-heartedly, Hana had scoured videos from other experts as well. She leaned back in her chair and yawned.
“Ugh...”
All that was left was to watch those movie CDs. She'd considered taking them to the multi-room and watching together, but she couldn't shake the thought that it would be a total loss. I mean, why pay to watch on a screen there when she had a perfectly good high-definition monitor at home? In the end, the real issue was letting the 'guy' named Suhyun into her house.
She knew he was the type of herbivore who'd probably just nibble on grass, but the fact itself still bothered her. The solution was simple. She could just invite other people too. She'd already gotten Seoeun unnie's agreement. Hana herself had zero objection to watching the movie again. If anything, since she'd bought the expensive thing, watching it one more time felt like a gain.
Hana, wearing a black jean jacket over her sweatshirt, placed a ball cap on her head. The look gave off senior-year vibes if you only looked at the style. Since she was just going straight to the club room to teach guitar and leave, there was no reason to dress up fancy. She thought of herself as plain, but her beauty couldn't be hidden by such a casual daily look.
When she arrived at the welfare center and got off the elevator, she saw Suhyun in the distance entering the passcode.
“Lee Suhyun!”
At Hana's call, Suhyun turned his head.
“Hey.”
“Did you just get here?”
“Yeah.”
Suhyun was wearing the same gray hoodie as yesterday. Hana, who had come dressed plainly herself, couldn't exactly criticize him, but it still bothered her, so she casually asked.
“That outfit. You're not wearing just that one thing all the time, right?”
Come to think of it, he'd worn that for about three days last week too.
“Huh? Why? Does it look weird?”
There wasn't really anything weird about it. What was there to like or dislike about a plain gray hoodie with no pattern?
“No. Just... you wear it a lot.”
“I have three of the exact same one.”
Suhyun answered with a bright, bashful smile, as if it were something to be proud of. He was simply in a good mood because he could learn guitar from Hana. On the other hand, Hana's brows began to dance freely as she struggled to control her expression.
“Why... would you buy three of them...?”
“Well, they're comfortable... and they look decent... and... um... they're cheap?”
In truth, he'd bought them after seeing a sale for three pieces for 100,000 won. About 33,000 won each! That seemed pretty good, right?
“Uh...”
Hana was momentarily at a loss for words as she watched Suhyun's back while he took his guitar out of the gig bag. Really... what the... why is this guy like this... I can't just leave him be...?
In Hana's eyes, there was nothing wrong with Suhyun's clothes hanger of a body. He wasn't that tall, but his proportions were fine. His build was slim, and his arms and legs were long. His hair covered his face like that, but his features seemed decent too, so why on earth did he go around looking like this?
Maybe sensing her sharp gaze, Suhyun gave an awkward smile as he plugged the cable into his guitar.
“...Do I look weird?”
Yeah. You do. Why do you go around like that?
“No, no. Anyway, today I brought something a little more complicated in terms of rhythm practice than last week?”
Hana had been about to say something but decided they weren't close enough for her to butt in yet. She flipped open the cover of the lesson book. Just get a little closer. Then she'd straight up tell him, 'Go throw that hoodie away!' Or maybe not. If she said something like that, he might get upset and quit. Both Juyeon and Suhyun were such fragile, thin-glass-like people, Hana thought.
“Yeah. Should I just play this?”
“Yeah. But in the resting sections, focus on not letting your right hand rest and doing ghost picking instead. And when you mute, be careful not to make any noise.”
Hana diligently passed on her knowledge, and Suhyun struggled but worked hard to follow along today as well. He was stumbling, but just being like this was incredibly enjoyable for him. To be able to properly learn the guitar he loved so much now that he'd joined a band. For him, this was no different from the realization of a long-held fantasy.
“Wow... this is so confusing...”
“Rhythm guitar is like that. The basics are super easy, but when it gets complicated, it's no joke.”
Especially that last example—if Hana hadn't practiced it separately, she wouldn't have been able to demonstrate it in front of Suhyun.
“Oh. Right. Lee Suhyun.”
Hana casually tried to bring up the movie.
“Yeah?”
“Do you have anything after practice tomorrow?”
“Nope.”
Practice ended at 7 p.m., so having plans after that would have been more unusual.
“Really? Then.”
As she leaned forward slightly, her golden hair flowed down from her shoulders under the ball cap.
“Come over to my place.”
At Hana's blunt way of speaking, Suhyun's ears turned bright red.